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www.rmit.edu.au/studyandlearningcentre/

February 2007

Ph: 9925 3600

Writing a research report

Aresearchreportcanbebasedonpracticalwork,researchbyreadingorastudyofanorganisationor

industrial/workplacesituation.

1.Preparing

Identifythepurpose/theaimsoftheresearch/researchquestion.

Identifytheaudience.–lecturer/supervisor/company/organizationmanagement/staff.Theamountofbackground

includedwillvarydependingontheknowledgeofthe“audience”.

2. Collecting and organising information

Therearetwomainsourcesofinformationdependingontheresearchtask:

1. Reading—theoryandotherresearch

2. Research—experiments,datacollection‐questionnaires,surveys,observation,interviews.

Organiseandcollatetheinformationinalogicalorder.Makesureyourecordthebibliographicinformationofyour

readingasyougo

along.

SeeQuickTipsonmindmappingtechniques.

3. Planning

Beforewritingthereport,prepareadetailedplaninoutlineform.

Considerthefollowing

:

Logical organisation

Informationinareportmustbeorganizedlogically.Communicatethemainideasfollowedbysupportingdetailsand

examples.Startwiththemoreimportantorsignificantinformationandmoveontotheleastimportantinformation

.

Headings

Useheadingsandsuitablesubheadingstoclearlyshowthedifferentsections.Inlongerreportsthesectionsshould

benumbered

.

4. Writing the report

1. Draftthereportfromyourdetailedplan.

2. Donotworrytoomuchaboutthefinalformandlanguage,butratheronpresentingtheideas

coherentlyandlogically.

3. Redraftandedit.Checkthatsectionscontaintherequiredinformationandusesuitableheadings,

checkideasflowinalogicalorder

andremoveanyunnecessaryinformation.

4. Writeinanacademicstyleandtone.

• Useaformalobjectivestyle.

• Generallyavoidpersonalpronouns;however,somereportsbasedonyourownfield

experienceorworkplacementcanbereflectivethefirstpersoncanbeused.Forexample,“I

observed..”.Ifin

doubtaboutthis,checkwiththelecturer.

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